Mad Max: Fury Road: 99% Fresh with 190 Critic Reviews

[Meshugger]

Heh, i chuckled.

 

http://8ch.net/pol/src/1431735156969.png

[GhoulishVisage]

I wonder if Warner Bros will try to rope George Miller into doing a DC movie for them for their DCCU.
Warner Bros like returning to directors they've previously worked with, and the DCCU is reportedly going to be going with a rather "director driven" approach, as opposed to Marvel's more tightly controlled method.

[Monte Carlo]

As someone sick to the back teeth of bloody superhero movies, I hope not.

[Hiro Protagonist]

I don't understand all the feminist or whatever talk. Just finished up a W40K pnp session just now and one of the guys in the group mentioned something about feminism at the start of our game and I'll say it here to what I said in the group. Don't know anything about feminism or how it's got to do with the movie. It's a good old fashioned action movie and I enjoyed it.

[Monte Carlo]

It's a bit like Top Gun. You can enjoy it as the most touching story of unrequited Gay love ever told (it makes The Liberace Story look like SAW) or enjoy it as a piece of jingoistic, Soviet-baiting aviation porn.

[CoM_Solaufein]

Best movie of the year, until Star Wars comes out.

[Sarex]

Best movie of the year, until Star Wars comes out.

 

What makes you so confident in star wars?

[LadyCrimson]

As someone sick to the back teeth of bloody superhero movies, I hope not.

I think the superhero film fad is probably close to being over (for a while). Not immediately, but business-wise, it just might be losing it's appeal/reaching a peak -  they'll become unsure how to make it all "bigger" for continued audience lure. I found Berardinelli's thoughts on the matter sorta interesting.

http://www.reelviews.net/reelthoughts/reelthought_1430317224

 

Trends, cyclic repeat.

 

Reminds me of how annoyed I became at the multiple-ending syndrome - where a film will flash-edit between 3-5 different final confrontations or something.

[Meshugger]

I just saw it. It was a Mad Max movie for sure with its campy antics, ridiculous bad guys and car explosions. However, it was pretty much 2 hours of nonstop action, which was simply too much, as you felt completely exhausted mentally after watching it. It was not as good as Road Warrior, but a good Mad Max movie in itself. Two things:

 

1) They were quite clever with including a feminist as a creative consultant. They payed some very minor lip service in order to get away with very, very graphic violence against women. Kudos for playing her and the reviewers like a violin.

 

2) It is definately not the greatest thing ever. It's a fun, dumb action movie done rather well. It was simply released at the perfect time.

[Nonek]

 

1) They were quite clever with including a feminist as a creative consultant. They payed some very minor lip service in order to get away with very, very graphic violence against women. Kudos for playing her and the reviewers like a violin.

 

 

I've heard that this is standard practise with the historical consultants hired for movies, simply there to lend a veneer of authenticity and then largely ignored, unless the director likes one of their ideas.

[BruceVC]

 

 

 

I would have no problem with a new Alien movie with a male lead.  But part of the formula of that movie is the strong female scientist who ends up kicking some butt.  Oddly enough they have the Predator movies set in the same universe, which tend to revolve around a strong male character.  

 

I think people spend too much time worrying about this stuff, while the majority of the world goes about their business just hoping the movie is entertaining.     

You're dodging the question. Would you accept an Alien movie with Ripley assigned to a lesser role and played by a much weaker actress than the main male lead? Hardy is nowhere near the same weight class as Theron.

 

 

How am I dodging the question?  I said yes, I would have no issue with a strong male lead in an Alien film.  I will judge it by its individual merit.  

 

You can already argue that the guy that played the android was a much stronger lead than the female in the newest Alien movie.  Although, once again, Charlize Theron was there dominating. (if only she knew how to run sideways!)  

 

The crazy thing is Sigourney Weaver can still play a kick butt character, while Mel Gibson is pretty much past that.  It's all about the strength of the actor, I don't care what their gender is.  Why do you guys make such a big deal of it?

 

Except, once again, you're dodging the question. Prometheus was not an Alien movie. It was an Alternate Universe take on the xenomorphs. There was no Ellen Ripley. So, would you accept an Alien movie in which the script has a perfectly healthy Ellen Ripley relegated to the side stage but present for the majority of the movie and played by a much weaker actress than the actor playing the lead as a proper Alien movie?

 

 

 

In case it's unclear, I'd call bull**** on that one too, and be much more upset about it since the Alien movies resonate a lot more with me than the MM movies.

 

Are you sure you are not over analyzing this whole thing because you have become very defensive and unnecessarily sensitive to any changes to things in your life that you  are familiar with because of a few changes that SJW really do implement? So you see SJ  negative influence everywhere? There are a few people on this forum who already see things like this so it wouldn't be absurd if you having this misperception ?

[Elerond]

 

 

1) They were quite clever with including a feminist as a creative consultant. They payed some very minor lip service in order to get away with very, very graphic violence against women. Kudos for playing her and the reviewers like a violin.

 

 

I've heard that this is standard practise with the historical consultants hired for movies, simply there to lend a veneer of authenticity and then largely ignored, unless the director likes one of their ideas.

 

 

In my understanding they hired consultant to give them deeper understanding about women that have been victims of sexual violence. Feministic ideas, plot lines, etc. come from director and writers if there is any such in the movie.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

It was not as good as Road Warrior, but a good Mad Max movie in itself.

Interesting.

 

Tell me about Mad Max. Why does he get strapped to a car and wear a mask?

[Nonek]

I've heard that old mad bad John Milius was one of the few directors who actually welcomed input to his directorial vision, seems odd for such a forceful and stalwart individual, but I suppose his reputation was needed in the cutthroat business world of Hollywood.

 

@Mr Parker:

He's a blood donor to the driver.

 

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

I've heard that old mad bad John Milius was one of the few directors who actually welcomed input to his directorial vision, seems odd for such a forceful and stalwart individual, but I suppose his reputation was needed in the cutthroat business world of Hollywood.

 

@Mr Parker:

He's a blood donor to the driver.

 

Lot of blood for a half-dead drifter.

[ravenshrike]

 

 

 

 

I would have no problem with a new Alien movie with a male lead.  But part of the formula of that movie is the strong female scientist who ends up kicking some butt.  Oddly enough they have the Predator movies set in the same universe, which tend to revolve around a strong male character.  

 

I think people spend too much time worrying about this stuff, while the majority of the world goes about their business just hoping the movie is entertaining.     

You're dodging the question. Would you accept an Alien movie with Ripley assigned to a lesser role and played by a much weaker actress than the main male lead? Hardy is nowhere near the same weight class as Theron.

 

 

How am I dodging the question?  I said yes, I would have no issue with a strong male lead in an Alien film.  I will judge it by its individual merit.  

 

You can already argue that the guy that played the android was a much stronger lead than the female in the newest Alien movie.  Although, once again, Charlize Theron was there dominating. (if only she knew how to run sideways!)  

 

The crazy thing is Sigourney Weaver can still play a kick butt character, while Mel Gibson is pretty much past that.  It's all about the strength of the actor, I don't care what their gender is.  Why do you guys make such a big deal of it?

 

Except, once again, you're dodging the question. Prometheus was not an Alien movie. It was an Alternate Universe take on the xenomorphs. There was no Ellen Ripley. So, would you accept an Alien movie in which the script has a perfectly healthy Ellen Ripley relegated to the side stage but present for the majority of the movie and played by a much weaker actress than the actor playing the lead as a proper Alien movie?

 

 

 

In case it's unclear, I'd call bull**** on that one too, and be much more upset about it since the Alien movies resonate a lot more with me than the MM movies.

 

Are you sure you are not over analyzing this whole thing because you have become very defensive and unnecessarily sensitive to any changes to things in your life that you  are familiar with because of a few changes that SJW really do implement? So you see SJ  negative influence everywhere? There are a few people on this forum who already see things like this so it wouldn't be absurd if you having this misperception ?

 

While I initially responded to someone who was bitching about MRAs, I'm not really thinking that there's a giant SJW plot behind the change. I just think it's not a MM movie. The MM movies were always about MM's interaction(A man who in the first movie lost everything to barbarism and took vengenance upon those who killed his family, then tried to save what little civilization he found but by and large failed, until 15 years after that he FINALLY manages to help establish some form of civilization anew) with the post-apocalyptic world. MM:FR is decidedly... not. In Fury Road Max Rockatansky provides nothing that any nameless badass mook couldn't. THAT is my problem with the movie.

 

 

 

Addendum - It occurs to me that they could have had a much better hook into the MM universe if Furiosa had grown up in the society left behind by MM in Beyond Thunderdome which grew to have a tradition of sending out emmisaries to 'civilize' the wasteland.

 

 

Addendum 2 - Apropos of nothing in particular I would also like to point out to Hurlshot that Prometheus was apparently Scott forcing everyone in the AU xenomorph universe to permanently carry the idiot ball. There were more than a dozen points in the movie where if people weren't permanently carrying their idiot ball they would have avoided any permanent trouble

Edited May 17, 2015 by ravenshrike

[Meshugger]

 

It was not as good as Road Warrior, but a good Mad Max movie in itself.

Interesting.

 

Tell me about Mad Max. Why does he get strapped to a car and wear a mask?

 

 

Because no one knew who he was before he put on the mask.

 

No tell me about this grand master plan of his.

Edited May 16, 2015 by Meshugger

[HoonDing]

Haven't seen it nor will I ever, but as this is the Internet I will still maintain strong feelings about it.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

 

 

It was not as good as Road Warrior, but a good Mad Max movie in itself.

 

Interesting.

Tell me about Mad Max. Why does he get strapped to a car and wear a mask?

 

Because no one knew who he was before he put on the mask.

 

No tell me about this grand master plan of his.

Of coursh...Nux refused our offer in favor of yours, we had to find out what he told you.

[Sven_]

I just saw it. It was a Mad Max movie for sure with its campy antics, ridiculous bad guys and car explosions. However, it was pretty much 2 hours of nonstop action, which was simply too much, as you felt completely exhausted mentally after watching it. It was not as good as Road Warrior, but a good Mad Max movie in itself. Two things:

 

1) They were quite clever with including a feminist as a creative consultant. They payed some very minor lip service in order to get away with very, very graphic violence against women. Kudos for playing her and the reviewers like a violin.

 

2) It is definately not the greatest thing ever. It's a fun, dumb action movie done rather well. It was simply released at the perfect time.

 

 

Probably not the greatest thing ever. For a dumb movie though it sure as heck takes its characters pretty serious. For all the over-the-topness, in your standard action flick, nobody would have turned heads for five  super models appearing, for instance. They'd just be typical Hollywood casting tropes, pretty faces to please a primarily male audience, for instance. Yet they firstly rather tie in well with the movie's plotline, and also really everyone reacts to them in often quite extraordinarily ways upon first meeting. That's something that hit me personally anyways whilst watching. As the previous entry in particular had some similar religious undertones, there's probably also a symbolic thing about their number, and their clothing, and the way they are framed when we (and Max) initially get to really see them. As an aside to casting cliches, if you get a boner out of Theron in this one, you're one heck of a weirdo. I mean they don't exactly put her pretty face behind a leather mask, but she's cast the way Weaver was in Aliens or Alien³, a strong character (which she nails), not Aeon Flux. Wanna say hello to the lady?

 

I don't get the "dumb action" thing much. There's something as bloody stupid as typical Summer Blockbusters usually are, with frantic cuts being mistaken for action, CGI overload for a bang and flash backs and contrived exposition for storytelling. And then there's this, which is something on occasion so grand, the storyboards for the action sequences would likely fill books -- and personally I also think that there's a lot of stuff being told just by the set pieces and faces, with the only thing really missing is a more gripping emotional hook to Furiosa's motivations, one that is actually translated to the audience (when the movie opens, she's actually about to detour already and take "revenge" to what's happened). And the occasional flash backs of Max' memory not doing a particularly great job of depicting his conflict, in particular as this conflict is what firstly drives Max and leads to the movie's resolution. Those flashbacks alter the original movies too and make old fans a tad confused

in the originals, Max' child was firstly a boy and killed a toddler.

  In a sense tough, the lack of any exposition bar setting the absolutely basics you need to know for the next two hours in the beginning couple o' minutes plays into the movies favor though. As WHEN the movie slows down, in relative terms, you're eager to hang on these characters lips and soak up anything that gets you a clearer picture of what the heck is actually going on. Interestingly, I read that Miller and his co-writer had fleshed out back stories for every character, from the main guys to the war boys to the Guitar Guy . It's not explicitly translated to screen or phoned in to the audience, but this in parts explains why the movie clicks rather than "just" being a series of interconnected car crashes without any coherency backing them up. Here's somebody who cares about the world he's about to wreak havoc in, as over the top as it may be.

 

Dumb movies are the likes of xXx, Transformers, Fast And Furious. This is on an altogether different level though, leaning more towards the likes of the original Terminator, Escape From New York, Assault On Precinct 13, basically the good stuff, as unlikely you'll get to see that from big budget Blockbuster studio productions. At times it's so raw it's unreal, whilst still having all the obvious polish from a big budget production. It's not necessarily the movie that explicitly demands anyone to think about the meaning of life and the Secret Of Monkey Island and the universe or anything, it primarily wants to thrill you and knock you out of your socks. But in its own ways and inherent action movie form, it's not just explosions galore either. I don't think it will be quite as influential nor iconic as the above mentioned. For all the greatly inventive action scenes you've never seen before quite like it, the movie basically draws from all the things of previous Max movies, only amplifying them and then some. My opinion anyways.

Edited May 17, 2015 by Sven_

[Stephen Amber]

Was it almost as good as The Road Warrior?

Road Warrior edges it out imho.  So many brilliant scenes and characters in the road warrior... max eating a can of dog food, giving it to his dog, and the gyro-captain getting scraps at the bottom.  The feral kid with the boomerang, who ironically becomes a leader in later years, as he narrates as an old man.  Fury Road bristles with guns.  There were only two firearms in the whole of the Road Warrior:  Max's sawed off shotgun, which starts out empty(he only gets working ammo towards the end), and Lord Humongous' bad ass hand gun.  This brought most of the combat down to a medieval level with hand weapons... and the occasional x-bow thrown in.  Road Warrior is ultimate post-apoc movie as far as I'm concerned.

[Hurlshort]

 

 

1) They were quite clever with including a feminist as a creative consultant. They payed some very minor lip service in order to get away with very, very graphic violence against women. Kudos for playing her and the reviewers like a violin.

 

 

I've heard that this is standard practise with the historical consultants hired for movies, simply there to lend a veneer of authenticity and then largely ignored, unless the director likes one of their ideas.

 

 

That actually sounds like a great gig, sign me up.

[Aram]

This movie is a sort of a triumph and a sort of film I have been wanting and wanting and haven't recieved in a very long time from Hollywood action cinema. But that anyone thinks there's anything here worth talking about politically is baffling to me. There is not some complex discussion about gender politics going on in this movie. It's a simple, straightforward action movie plot that has been told a hundred times before in exactly the same way -- so common because it serves an action movie pacing so perfectly well when done right. There are a dozen films out every year that could have books written about the way they examine gender, and none of the people talking about Mad Max will ever watch any of them.

 

The great thing about this movie, and the thing everyone should actually be talking about, is that no matter how much commotion is on the screen at once, or how fast everything is moving, or how frantic everyone is behaving, I did not at any point feel like I was having trouble following it. This is a big, big deal today. The Bourne films, the Taken films, the Transformers films, the like six movies where aliens blow up a city and nothing else happens, and just about every single super hero movie that has come out, they have all somehow managed to train their directors and cinematographers to painstakingly unlearn every important technique directors have carefully crafted to ensure that the audience's brains can easily and effortlessly follow the action as it flows on screen. Every fight scene in the last ten years has been between people who shouldn't know karate doing crazy karate moves while the camera darts around them every which way and cutting approximately every quarter of a nanosecond. Characters swapping places. Blows you only know connect because of the sound effects. Nobody ever seeming to get tired except the viewer. No indication at all of which side is gaining ground and which is losing it. Battles are editted where they should be chereographed, and choreographed where they should be editted.

 

Methods of conveying this information have been around and perfected for almost a century. Buster Keaton made probably the most perfectly filmed action chase movie ever filmed in goddamn 1926 with The General, and this is probably the first movie I've seen in over a decade where I could tell the director had actually seen and studied that movie and others like it. I felt like I was moving in one direction watching this movie, the direction of the chase, and I felt that the film and its pacing and its plotting were going in that same direction and at the same breakneck speed. It's sad that it has become exceptional for a film to achieve this today, and that it isn't just the norm for any high quality film, but since it is then this film is definitely that -- exceptional.

 

I liked that the movie had just the right blend of practical effects and CGI, with the CGI serving more to enhance the imagery rather than create it from scratch, or to create the otherwise completely impossible like that nuclear dust/fire storm. (I would bet 50 dollars whoever designed the look of that storm was inspired by those John Martin paintings on some level.) And that the practical effects were used to ensure that this was a world that felt real and lived in. So many things came together to make this a world that felt lived in. Little details like the embossed metal detailing of the headliner of the main vehicle. The just right amount of wear and slashdash look of the SKS rifle they rely on. Just too many little things like this to list but the things that turn a dumb action movie into a piece of extremely fine craftsmanship.

 

I liked that the whole movie could have been in Cantonese without subtitles and I wouldn't have had the slightest trouble understanding what was going on. An action movie that can achieve this by the strength of its plot and pacing rather than its weakness is a marvelous thing.

 

This is not some kind of revolutionary film. In fact I could name you a dozen 80s and a few 90s action films in the same vein as this one that do all these same things at least as well and most better. But those are films I would be extremely excited to see if I could for the first time again, and this is one of very few action movies I've seen in a very long time that would rank among them and the action classics, and that's reason enough to be excited for me. Maybe they'll finally get back to making movies this way.

Edited May 17, 2015 by Aram

[Aram]

You're dodging the question. Would you accept an Alien movie with Ripley assigned to a lesser role and played by a much weaker actress than the main male lead? Hardy is nowhere near the same weight class as Theron.

 

Some random trivia: the original Alien 3 screenplay written by William Gibson, author of neuromancer, had Ripley going off her own way with Newt and the story then following Hicks and Bishop as the two leads. Instead, we got...the movie we got, where everyone is miserable and then dies.

[Monte Carlo]

Aram, just out of interest would you mind sharing the titles of the older action movies you reference in your (splendid) review?